


Apricot and Citrus: The Fluffshot

by MinibossGapsule



Category: Furry (Fandom), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Complete, F/M, Fluff, Laser Tag, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28738539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinibossGapsule/pseuds/MinibossGapsule
Summary: Apricot and Citrus decide to have a fun day out! Full to the brim with fluffy goodness and an action scene at the end!
Relationships: Original Character/ Original Character
Kudos: 1





	Apricot and Citrus: The Fluffshot

As the sun poked out from behind a group of clouds in the early morning sky, South City finally began to stir. It was 7 AM, and most people would be starting to head for work right about now. Cars in driveways started up, husbands kissed their wives and children before going to work, kids were boarding the school bus to head to school. The entire city was wide awake. Well, except for Citrus, of course. 

The twenty-eight year old female red fox was still fast asleep in her bed. Her chest rose and fell with each snore and all was silent in her house. Immediately, the peace and quiet were interrupted by an ear-piercing shriek, originating from an alarm clock beside the fox's bed. It rang for a minute before a fuzzy orange hand groped it haphazardly and it clanged to the floor, silenced. The hand returned to the safety of the large blanket and its owner sighed deeply.

"Another day, another car to fix. Let's get to it," she said.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes hard. Her vision disappeared for a second before coming right back. She stretched her long thin arms into the air and yawned, mouth open wide. Her sharp teeth glistened in the early morning sunlight. Citrus stood up and walked to her bedroom door and yanked it open. There was a smell of food in the air, barely noticeable by her small black nose. 

"Apricot, is that you cooking? You've never done that before..."

Apricot was her best friend forever and current housemate. He was two years older than her and they met in 10th grade. From the very start, it was clear that they had a relationship like no other. It wasn't completely romantic, but it wasn't platonic either. It was suspended in a perpetual state of 'friends with benefits.'

"Yeah, it's me. Good morning, sleepyhead!" said the cheerful male fox.

As the tired and groggy Citrus walked into the kitchen, she held her arms out. 

He wrapped his arms around her entire body in a warm and comfortable hug.

"Mm, that feels good..." Citrus mumbled.

Apricot looked at her with a quizzical expression on his face.

"Uh, I mean, what's for breakfast?"

Smooth.

Apricot put his hands on his hips and gestured to the stove.

"Why don'tcha take a look for yourself? There's bacon, pancakes, and eggs. I also went out and bought some orange juice early this morning. All this is for you! After all, I know how much you appreciate good food!" he said.

He smiled widely, showing all of his teeth.

"You woke up early in the morning just for me?" she asked him.

Citrus's eyes seemed to light up.

"Well, of course I did. As your best friend, I did it to show my gratitude. Take it as a 'you owe me one'. Now, go back to your bed and I'll bring this all to you," Apricot said.

It was almost as if time had stopped completely for Citrus. Here she was, being offered breakfast in bed by her very best friend, and to make it even better, he had prepared her favorite meals! It was like a dream come true.

"Citrus, are you okay?" asked Apricot.

She had completely frozen and resorted to bumbling seemingly nonsense under her breath.

"I'll take that as a...no? Here, come with me," he said as he grabbed her shoulders and gently pushed her back down the hallway and into her bedroom. 

It was a rare opportunity for Apricot since he was seldom allowed into her bedroom. He gently lifted her off her feet and placed her into the bed. 

"Ok then. Just stay here and I'll be right back," he said.

Apricot exited her room, leaving her there with her thoughts.

All of a sudden, she snapped out of it. 

She had been surprised by Apricot's sudden demonstration of his affection for her, and it caught her off guard.

"What a gentleman he is. Still, it is pretty weird that he suddenly started doing things like this..." she thought.

Her contemplation was interrupted by her bedroom door opening. Apricot walked in with a wooden tray of mouth-watering food stacked sky-high upon it. It looked like a king's feast!

"Oh wow, look at all this! It's all mine?" she asked him.

He nodded cheerfully.

"Aw, thank you, Ap! You're such a good friend."

She threw her arms around him and took a bite. It was, needless to say, a heavenly meal.

Apricot grabbed the TV remote from her nightstand and turned the TV on. A movie was playing. But, he paid no attention to it. All he could think of was all the things his best friend had done for him ever since they met. Now was the time he paid her back.

The fox pondered for a moment, then he asked the question.

"Hey, why don't we go somewhere today? Just you and me?"

Citrus gulped down the remaining food in her mouth.

"Well, I have to finish working on the car today. The customer's gonna be real mad if it's not done by 9:00 tonight. Sorry," she said.

Apricot had known that she'd decline all along. He sighed and continued to watch the television.

"You know what? I think it can wait. I'll just have to tell the customer that there was a delay in a part delivery. Let's go somewhere today. Somewhere fun!"

Apricot's face lit up and his tail swished from side to side.

"Really? That's great!"

His plan was working just as intended.

"Well, what'd you have in mind? I'm sure your sneaky self didn't just spring a question without having a backup plan," Citrus said.

He smiled smugly.

"You know me all too well. I hereby decree that laser tag or bowling shall be our activities for today," Apricot jokingly said while pretending to be a judge.

"Sounds like a plan! I vote for...laser tag," Citrus said.

Apricot nodded.

"Good choice. I was thinking the same thing. Besides, you don't wanna get destroyed in the alley by yours truly. My dad and I used to go bowling every other Sunday. I kill at that sport," he bragged.

Citrus rolled her eyes and shoved another helping of scrambled eggs into her mouth.

Apricot shifted himself off her bed and walked to her door.

Before he left, though, he said something.

"Oh, and by the way, there's a little something special at the bottom of that glass of orange juice. Don't swallow it!"

At that, he exited her room and closed the door behind him.

Citrus quickly grabbed the glass of orange juice and chugged it in no time flat, making sure to watch out for any foreign objects within the delectable liquid. Finally, she came to the bottom of the glass. Splayed out on the floor of the cup, and soaked in orange juice, sat a long silver necklace with a large silver heart attached to it.

She grabbed it with her nails and carefully extracted it. On the back of the silver heart were three letters.

"C. B. F."

Her initials.

Apricot had gone out and presumably, spent hundreds of Rings on this gorgeous necklace for her.

Citrus's heartbeat sped up seemingly a thousand times and her head felt lighter than air. She cleaned off the necklace and placed it around her neck. The metal traced a line of cold around her collarbone.

"Oh my Chaos, this is beautiful! He actually spent all that money on me..."

She jumped out of her bed, making sure to not spill any food onto it. She went into the living room of their shared apartment and saw Apricot on the couch with his phone. He turned his head and looked at her. At once, his eyes widened and the tips of his ears became warm. 

“Whoa, that looks great on you. I knew it’d be a perfect fit!” he said.

Citrus blushed and giggled.

Apricot heaved himself off the couch and approached Citrus. She looked into his sparkling orange eyes.

“What are you doi-”

She was interrupted by a hand brushing the stray hairs from in front of her eyes, and stroking her cheek. 

“I know we’ve been friends for a really long time. Over ten years at this point. And I also know that we’ve had our ups and downs over the years, albeit rarely. I just want to say that I’ve finally realized that all this time, the friendship we have has grown to heights I never dreamed could be possible. The point is…”

Apricot grabbed both of her hands.

“...I really care about you, I might even go as far as to say that I love you, Citrus. Yes, this is sudden, but it’s been plaguing me for weeks, and I had to tell you sometime. I hope you can understand…”, he concluded.

Citrus was shocked at what she was hearing. Apricot was never one to confess his affection for another person, no matter how much he wanted to. This must’ve really meant something to him.

“Aw, Apricot. I care about you a lot, too. You’re so kind and generous and sweet, and I just love being around you. I totally understand the feeling you have, believe me, I’ve experienced it. With that said, I don’t want any relationship we may enter with each other to ruin our friendship. What we have is special. You don’t want that to be ruined, do you?”

He shook his head.

“So, if this feeling ever resurfaces from now, all you need to do is remember that I am your best friend and I will support you with anything you set your mind to. There’s no need for a romantic relationship when you have everything you might need or want right here.”

She extended her arms for a hug, which Apricot graciously accepted. The embrace lasted for a full minute before it was broken. Both of them had expressed their true feelings to each other for the first time in years, and it felt surprisingly good.

Apricot grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. He walked to the front door.

"Where are you going? I hope what I said didn't make you angry or anything," Citrus told him.

He waved a hand at her.

"No, of course not. You said you wanted to do laser tag, right? Well, let's go!"

Citrus smiled widely and followed him out the door.

The two of them walked down the busy downtown streets, looking at all the tall buildings and sculpted statues that laid about.

"How far away is the arena? I don't want to waste my energy walking before we can even get started!" Citrus said.

Apricot pointed down the block. It was about 500 feet away.

"It's just over there. I hear that it's one of the best in town. Did you know that Sonic is a frequent visitor to this place? Heck, maybe we'll see him!"

With his long legs and large feet, Apricot walked with a quick step. One of his steps is two of Citrus's. She had to jog to keep up with him. Today, however, he walked slowly, with his head hung low, his tail abnormally saggy, and his shoulders slouching.

Apparently, Citrus's response to his emotional spillage was less than optimal for him.

Citrus took notice of this and thought about how to cheer him up.

"Aw, man. I didn't mean to rip his heart in half like that. Maybe I could try something that shows him I still like him, as a friend of course," she thought.

Suddenly, she made a decision. Reaching her hand down to her waist, where Apricot's hand hung sadly, she grabbed it and held it firmly.

"Huh? What's this all about?" he asked her.

"I just felt kinda guilty about shooting you down earlier, so I just want you to know that we're cool. Nothing's changed between us!"

Apricot smiled weakly and continued to walk down the sidewalk, his other hand buried in his sweater pocket.

Finally the two of them came across their destination. "Red Eye's Laser Tag Arena" it was called. They entered the building and were greeted with a modern marble and glass desk. It had LED lights lining its underside which repeatedly flashed the colors of the rainbow. Sitting at the desk was a bored-looking clerk. He was a wolf and had grey and black hair that fell across his eyes.

"Good afternoon and welcome to Red Eye's Laser Tag Arena. What can I do for you?" he asked.

"Hi. Two tickets for a one-hour intermediate session. We'll join any team you put us in," said Citrus.

The clerk typed that information into his computer and read out the price.

"That'll be forty Rings please," the clerk said.

He held out his hand impatiently.

Apricot dug into his backpack and retrieved two small square-shaped boxes called Ring Monitors. Each one was grey with a computer projection of a spinning ring on its front.

"Thank you very much and have a fun time."

Apricot and Citrus walked through the doors next to the clerk's desk and entered a room filled with people. They were all queued up in order of difficulty rating. Citrus had asked for an intermediate difficulty. That queue was luckily the shortest.

Standing on that line were several people, some seemed to be athletes, as evidenced by their brightly colored clothes and bulging muscles.

"Oh boy, we're gonna have some good competition today! Let's hope one of those ripped guys are on our team," Citrus said.

She looked at Apricot, whose mouth was turned down into a frown. He looked all around the room, scanning with darting eyes.

"Mhm, yeah, let's hope one of them is on our team..." he said, sounding distracted.

"Alright, people! Everyone lined up for Intermediate class, please enter the arena!" said an announcer from somewhere above.

The queue moved quickly and everyone filed into the arena in an orderly fashion. A woman at the front of the line turned to face everyone else. She was probably the game master.

"Ok, we're gonna be splitting everyone into teams. There's gonna be three teams. When I tap you on the shoulder and say either A, B, or C, you move off to the side. That will be your group. Let's get started."

She moved down the line, tapping people's shoulders and calling out letters as she went. Finally, it was Citrus's turn.

"You're gonna be an A..." said the lady as she tapped Citrus's shoulder.

"Are you two together? Would you like to be part of the same team?" the woman asked.

Citrus looked at Apricot, who still had a general air of sadness and regret around him.

"Why, yes we ar-"

"No, no we're not," interrupted Apricot.

Citrus looked at him, horrified.

"What do you mean, we're not together? Yes, we are!" she said in a firm voice.

"I'm aware of that. I just want a change of pace. Let's see how being on your opposing team feels for once. I might even have a hint of regret when I eliminate you," he said with a cocky sneer.

Citrus couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but she didn't like where this was going.

"Okay, then. I'm in group A and you're group B."

She and he split off, both walking in different directions. Group B consisted of all the athletes they saw earlier. They greeted Apricot with a high five and a slap on the back.

"Glad to be on your team. Let's show the other guys what we're truly made of," he said.

Citrus, on the other hand, watched her supposed best friend from the other side of the room, confused as all heck and fuming at his little stunt. Her team was comprised mostly of teenagers. She was the oldest person there.

"Oh, Apricot... What are you doing? I thought we were friends," she said to herself while she watched him participate in the athlete team's motivational cheer.

"Alright! In a moment, I will open the doors to the arena and the game can begin! Remember these rules: no fighting, no pointing the laser beams at other people's eyes, and most important of all, no cheating! If you're hit, your gun will deactivate for thirty seconds and a score will be tallied against you. The first team to 20 points wins the game! Ready, go!"

The doors mechanically swung open and all the teams rushed through their dedicated door. There were laser guns hung on a rack next to each door, so everyone grabbed one. Citrus was stuck with a tiny pistol.

"What? A pistol? I bet I won't ever score any hits with this thing! Ah, whatever! Viva la group A!" she said as she ran into the arena.

Immediately, there was chaos. People were falling left and right, getting hit on their chests, shoulders, and sides. Nobody was coordinated and it was every man for themselves.

A few of her teammates ran past, barely visible laser beams trailing after them. They were hit in the back and fell to the ground.

Realizing that her chances of winning were slim, Citrus ran full-throttle through the crowd and clutched the trigger of the gun. She aimed and fired recklessly hoping for any shots to land. Surprisingly, about half of her randomly thrown laser beams hit a target, scoring her team 4 points.

"Alright! Let's do this thing! Random laser shots, go!" she said as she once again bolted through the crowd, shooting random things until something hit.

She screeched to a halt behind a large pillar to catch her breath. She poked her head to the side but immediately retracted it because a volley of laser beams strafed by. She squinted to try and see the shooter in the dark. 

Then, her face fell as she saw a familiar blue sweater coming towards her.

It was Apricot, and he was thirsty for blood. Metaphorically, of course.

"Come on out, Citrus. It won't hurt one bit. My team and I just need a few more points to win, and who better to get them from than my very best friend?" he said.

His voice was filled with hatred and malice, but more than anything, sadness.

Citrus ducked and rolled to another pillar just as her previous hiding spot was blown. He was hot on her trail.

She dipped and dodged under stray laser blasts and over fallen comrades in an attempt to evade her crazed friend.

She looked behind her, thinking that she had escaped when she slammed into something soft. She hit the ground with a thump and looked up. An expression of pure horror crossed her face as she realized that she had played right into Apricot's hands.

"Heya, friend. It's been a while. How about I take those points from you and nobody gets hurt?" he asked.

Citrus was terrified. She tried to fight back by kicking and punching, but none of it seemed to faze him. He grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and lifted her off the floor. He pinned her against the wall in the far back of the arena, where none of her teammates could find her.

"Wh-what are you doing? Let me down! You wouldn't hurt me!" she said.

He smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Oh really? Would you like to test that theory?" he asked as he bent closer and closer to her face.

She could feel his shaky breath on her face. His snout was mere centimeters from hers.

She thought it was all over. She thought that her friend had resorted to murder to get what he wanted.

"It's over for you now. I've won," Apricot said, maliciously.

She closed her eyes and waited for the end.

But it never happened.

Instead, she felt a vibration on her chest as her laser tag vest lit up with a red color.

"Welp, I'll take those points from you and be on my way. I'm a great actor aren't I?" he asked her.

Citrus slumped to the floor, face in hands. She shook subtly, her heart racing at a million miles per hour.

"That was good. You got me. Wooo!" she said.

He extended his hand and helped her to her feet.

"Man, I actually felt like I was in a movie. Sorry if I scared you. But I doubt I could scare someone as hardcore as you. Anyways, let's continue. Good luck to ya!" Apricot said as he ran off, blasting opponents on his way.

Citrus leaned against the wall and laughed.

"Heh, good ole Apricot. Tricking people with that weird sense of humor of his. What a guy," Citrus remarked.

She dashed from her spot, dodging the opponent's blasts as she went.


End file.
